Reginald Dwayne Betts was first introduced to poetry when an unknown person slid a copy of Dudley Randall’s The Black Poets under his prison cell door.Betts had just landed himself in prison at age 16 after a night filled with bad decisions. He joined a friend and a bunch of guys he hardly knew and went looking for trouble. … Continue reading This road to redemption began with a poetry book slipped under a prison cell door (via Washington Examiner)
Additional Info: Prentice Powell performing "2d" Information courtesy, YouTube
An artist is creating poems after listening to health care staff at the University of Alabama at Birmingham tell stories of their experiences.Salaam Green, an artist-in-residence with UAB Arts in Medicine, is a certified Listener Poet. Through the Listener Poet program, the poets hold space for people to share whatever is on their minds, which is reflected back … Continue reading Poet turns health care workers’ stories into custom poems (via UAB News)
Additional Info: About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry. Information courtesy, YouTube
When Anis Mojgani first learned he might be Oregon’s next poet laureate, the COVID-19 pandemic had not taken off in the U.S. “I was excited at the possibility of seeing the state like I never have and, of course, it was very much not the case,” he said. A few months later, the Oregon Cultural Trust officially announced … Continue reading Untethered by pandemic, Oregon’s poet laureate seeks new ways for poetry to foster joy and connection (via OPB)
Additional Info: About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry. Information courtesy, YouTube
On the way to Albuquerque for a holiday with my parents, I bought a used audio version of Nicholas Sparks’s “The Notebook” at a truck stop outside Flagstaff, Ariz. Told mostly in flashback, the sentimental 1940s love story was diverting enough to get me through six hours of desert highway. However, it was the present-day … Continue reading How fiction and poetry can help you navigate a loved one’s dementia (via Washington Post)
Additional Info: About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry. Information courtesy, YouTube
The Ukrainian American poet Ilya Kaminsky’s book Deaf Republic tells the story of a city under siege from an occupying force, and the steps the citizens to fight back. It also portrays the experience of watching conflict from a safe distance—something many Americans have experienced this week as images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine flood our … Continue reading Ilya Kaminsky on his viral poem “We Lived Happily During the War” and Ukrainian resistance (via Slate)
Additional Info: About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry. Information courtesy, YouTube
